Caden offered a tight-lipped smile as he pulled his hand away, pulling my heart out of my chest with it. “Last-minute Christmas shopping.”
“Shopping? I thought stores were closed on Christmas Day …”
“He’ll be back soon, but he’s not here right now. Why don’t you go have a long, hot shower? You’ll feel better, I promise,” Caden said.
A shower sounded like a fantastic idea. If a giant werebeast thought I smelled bad, the hot guy sitting next to me couldn’t be overly impressed … I stumbled out of bed, on a mission to get to the en suite faster than the fastest person in the world. I may have made it too, had it not been for a still figure in my peripheral vision distracting me. A tall, dark man sitting in the corner.
Wraith.
He stopped me dead in my tracks. “What are you doing here?” I asked in a low, wary voice. How could I have forgotten about him?
“He’s been here all night,” Caden explained before Wraith could answer. “I tried getting rid of him,” he grimaced, as if remembering an unpleasant experience. “It didn’t work so well.”
I rubbed my nose, digging into my foggy memory. “Oh … that’s right …” Blurry patches of the prior night fluttered past. I tried losing Wraith several times. I don’t know if it was his stellar Evangeline tracking skills or that I was louder than a herd of buffalo in a church, but there was no getting rid of Wraith. He was like an annoying little brother. Everywhere I went, he was one step behind. Only he killed for me …
“Whatever …” I decided I was more interested in a hot shower than dealing with my grim reaper at that point. I turned back and continued toward the bathroom.
“Wait.” The word—though flatly delivered—had the effect. I stopped midstride and turned to find Wraith marching toward me in that stiff way of his.
“What?”
He didn’t answer. He just kept moving, his eyes trained on the bathroom.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked sharply. He didn’t think he was …
“I am accompanying you to your next destination,” he answered in the weird, robotic language he used.
I shared my panicked look with Caden and Max. Caden’s eyes filled with fury. This bothered him, I could tell. But he was helpless and that made it worse. Interference led to dire consequences and no one wanted that. Max leaned back to settle onto his haunches, clearly not interested in being put down again. I’d have to manage my grim reaper on my own. I turned back to level him with a stare.
“My next destination is right in there … for a shower,” I said slowly, enunciating every word. “Thanks for your help, but I won’t need you in there.”
Blue orbs shifted from the door to the en suite to me, and then back to the en suite, as if weighing options. “That is not for you to decide,” he finally said.
“Oh, yes it is!” I snapped, waggling my finger at him. “You are my guardian … not my captor!” This was feeling all too much like Max’s wishy-washy servitude. “I will have some privacy! Please!” The last word came out a little shaky, like I was pleading. I couldn’t be pleading with this thing. Pulling my shoulders up straight, I crossed my arms and set my jaw.
“I do not feel the same desires as a human—” he began to say.
A mental image of that placid face, those mirror balls drifting over my bare body made me shudder violently. But he was likely telling the truth. He probably didn’t desire that. Only one desire motivated him—to kill for me, without discretion, without remorse. It’s why he existed and I couldn’t fault him for that. Putting all else aside, I needed him right now. I needed all the help I could get to keep me alive until I turned into Walking Death and jumped off a cliff …
I tempered my tone. “That’s great, Wraith, but guess what? I’m human and I do have desires—the desire to shower without an audience.”
He stared blankly at me for a long moment, so long I was sure my words hadn’t register with him. I decided to test him, and so I stepped into the bathroom. Somehow he managed to get in front of me, his broad arm sweeping me back and out of the way as he stepped into the little room.
“Hey!”
“No windows. No doors. No other occupants. It is empty,” he assessed, as if reporting on a crime scene.
“Yes, that’s because it’s a bathroom. They’re generally not party rooms. Now get out!” I snapped, gritting my teeth against the resulting stab of pain in my head. I threw my hands up to Wraith’s chest and gave him a hard shove out. Surprisingly, he moved without much effort. As soon as his toes crossed the threshold, I slammed the door shut and locked it. A tiny triumph tickled my confidence, though short-lived. If he wanted in, I was sure a stupid little metal lock wouldn’t stop him.